Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: how to get a doctor to take you seriously?

Every single thing on that list needs to be ruled out. IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion which means there is no one test for it, rather you have to test for everything else and when nothing can be found, they slap you with the IBS label.

The only way to find a doc that will take you seriously is to keep going to new docs until one does. Be very straight forward when you talk to them, I mean extremely blunt. The more you candy coat, the less seriously they'll take it. If you suffer from D, cramps, and gas, look that doc in the eye and say "I am constantly suffering from diarrhea, cramping, and gas. I need to have all of these things ruled out (hand him/her the list). I can't live with this any longer. I need YOUR help. Don't ask what s/he thinks it may be. Tell them what you need. If they won't listen, leave, even if it's still in the middle of the appt., and go try a new doc.

Sounds harsh, but no one else is going to get these things done for you, and in the unlikely event that it is something more serious, there isn't any time to putz around.

And more note, don't feel like they'll laugh at you. You DESERVE good health. You deserve, just like everyone else, to be pain free. And the medical community exists to realize that. Never feel bad or embarrassed, no matter what.

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If you're not dead, you've still got time.

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